


Wear this on my heart

by Areiton



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Domestic Fluff, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, pining jim, sappy bastards in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-21 20:03:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11364633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Areiton/pseuds/Areiton
Summary: It’s about three months into their first year at the Academy, when they both have a rare night off and decide to hit a local bar, that Jim realizes it.Leonard McCoy’s got shit taste in clothes.





	Wear this on my heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Catchclaw](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catchclaw/gifts).



> So I was just minding my business when Catchclaw sent me a pic of Jim and Bones in civvies at the end of Beyond.  
> And I of course, noticed how similar they dressed, and idly wondered who influenced who when it came to style.  
> And Catchclaw might have pushed me to write it. And because I'm a pushover who needs very little encouragement...  
> Here we are. Catchclaw, enjoy, honey. Hope this lives up to everything you thought.

It takes him a while to realize it.

To be fair, they were both pretty trashed when they were on the transport from Riverside. Jim’s head was throbbing from the beating he’d taken the night before, and he was nursing a pretty epic hangover.

And McCoy--true to prediction--did throw up, landing messy and wet on the grate between his boots, splattering both of them with flecks of vomit.

So when they scrambled out of clothes--blood crusted and vomit covered, respectively--and into their shiny new cadet reds, well, he didn’t think about it.

And then, they were in uniform all. the. time. He was trying to finish the Command track in three years, something Pike still laughed and said couldn’t be done, and from his course load, Jim was beginning to think, ok maybe Pike was onto something with that. And Bones, well, he was a doctor suddenly tossed back into the classroom, learning everything he’d never bothered with before as he began to realize what this new stage of his life would entail. And it’s not like he was going to stop practicing. It took three trips to his recruiter, and Jim finally dragging Pike into it before Bones was cleared to take shifts at Starfleet Medical.

So they were busy, and whenever they were on duty or in class, or fucking doing _anything,_ they were in uniform, reds and blacks and McCoy’s medical whites that Jim tried really hard not to think about when he was with the guy because they were _friends_.

And it’s not like he lived with the guy. Starfleet shoved McCoy into officer housing because of his MD and stuck Jim with the other raw recruits, and that was that, no amount of bartering or badgering on Jim’s part--and he did _plenty_ \--was changing that.

So sure, he saw McCoy in civvies, on occasion, but it’s only about three months into their first year at the Academy, when they both have a rare night off and decide to hit a local bar, that Jim realizes it.

Leonard McCoy’s got shit taste in clothes.

 

~

 

After he figures it out, it’s hard to forget. He’ll stumble into Bones apartment and find him in ratty sweatpants and a thin orange tshirt, scowling at his textbook while he mumbles about differential equations and sips Scotch.

McCoy will meet him at a bar, in a pair of shapeless pants and, Jim almost dies, he swears to god the man is wearing a _cardigan._ He didn’t think they even _made_ cardigans that would fit Bones’ shoulders, but closer inspection makes him think maybe it was handmade, which--

Yeah, still not a good reason to wear something that appalling.

The thing is, it doesn’t add up. Bones is this gorgeous guy--and he’s noticed, because he’s got eyes. He’d have to be blind, celibate and possibly dead to _not_ notice.

But he was good looking, what with all the broad shoulders and tapered waist, the scruff and just fucked hair and those damn eyes, the big hands and that fucking _drawl_ , the one that turned molasses slow when he’s tired or drinking.

He’s a good looking guy.

But he covers it up in these clothes that are as _bad_ as they are ridiculous and it just--it won’t do. It’s almost criminal.

 

~

 

He doesn’t really _mean_ for it to happen. It’s just--well. Gaila wanted to shop and he had the time, so he went with her because she was pretty good at picking out jeans that made his ass look good, and because there was a good chance she’d give him a blow job in the dressing room and he was never going to say no to that kind of offer.

He isn’t looking. It’s just--the blue shirt is the kind of blue that would make Bones’ eyes shine, and the thought of the thin material stretched over his chest kinda makes Jim’s mouth go dry.

He buys the shirt, and a pair of distressed jeans that are soft as butter and next time he gets to Bones apartment before his friend gets home, he shoves it deep in his closet.

 

~

 

When Jim produces the shirt and jeans a few weeks later for Bones to wear out, his friend’s eyebrows twitch in something like surprise, but Jim timed it right--Bones is coming off two twelve hour shifts sandwiching an exam in Xenolinguistics and is too tired to give a shit what he wears. He snatches the clothes from Jim wordlessly and stomps past him into the bathroom.

Jim tries to be patient while he waits for Bones to emerge from the shower--and knows it’ll be a water shower, because Bones hates the half clean feeling of the sonic after surgery--but he’s never been a paragon of patience, and right now he feels strung tight with want.

It’s worth the wait.

When Bones emerges, his hair is still spiky and wet, his skin flushed with heat and soft. His eyes are brighter now, some of the exhaustion fading away.

And the clothes.

Jim swallows down the whimper that’s fighting it’s way up his throat, and nods when Bones asks him if he’s ready.

Watching Bones’ ass in the snug jeans, the appraising looks being sent his way, entering the bar ahead of him, Jim has to wonder if this was actually as good an idea as he thought it was.

 

~

 

He doesn’t really stop. Every few weeks, he’ll pick something up, a shirt here, a Henley there, a few pairs of jeans. Slip them into Bones closet and trot them out when they’re going out. For Christmas, he gives Bones a bottle of bourbon older than his now dead marriage, something the other man seems bitterly amused by, and a leather jacket that Galia helped him pick out. It’s dull black leather, a kind of rough tarnished look to it that makes Jim ache because that’s how Bones feels to him. Gorgeous and steady, but tarnished, a little rough around the edges.

He’s held onto the damn thing for weeks now, and he watches with anxious eyes that he hides behind his eggnog as Bones opens it up and gives him a soft eyed smile, the same warm fondness he sees in Bones’ eyes when he talks to his mama back home, when he gets his little girl on the comm.

It’s the best Christmas he’s had in years.

 

~

 

Sometimes, when they go out and Bones has to meet him at the bar, he wonders if he’ll show up in the clothes from before. He’s always ridiculously pleased when he stomps in, boots and tight jeans and a grey Henley stretches across tense shoulders that seem to relax a little when he finds Jim’s eyes across the bar.

 

~

 

He doesn’t take the clothes he hates, though. Leaves them hanging in Bones clothes, tucked up in his drawers. He’s heard enough about the sour ending of his marriage to know Joss would steal Leonard’s voice, make decisions without talking to him, undermine his autonomy. It eroded the core of his confidence, stole something that even in this tiny way, he can’t bear to take from Bones again.

So the old clothes stay, and Jim’s offerings mingle in, and neither of them say anything about it, or mention the way sometimes, when Jim wakes up on McCoy’s couch, he’ll slip into one of the old faded tshirts and ripped sweats before joining the doctor for coffee.

 

~

 

It’s a few months into the year, as finals approach, and Jim is working himself into exhaustion when Bones puts his foot down. Throws him into a shower and tosses some clothes in after him, bellowing that he needs a break or he’ll hypo him into resting.

They end up at a bar down by the waterfront, a place that’s plays live music every night its open, a little slower than what Jim usually picks, a mellow bluesy feel to it that makes Jim relax even without his consent.

He’s a little surprised to see Uhura there, Gaila in tow, and more surprised to see her approaching them, her lips quirked in a smile as she greets Bones by name and perches herself on his side of the booth. Galia leans into Jim and he rubs her thigh as she bitches in his ear about the woes of finals while Uhura talks to Leonard about Xenolinguistics and sips her Cardassian sunrise. Her dark eyes keep flicking back and forth between Jim and Bones, a small smirk on her lips that’s bugging Jim.

Their being here, when he was enjoying the quiet of just Bones company is bugging Jim.

“Something funny, Uhura?”

She wags a finger between the two men with a grin. “You two. You raid each other’s closet for that matching look?”

Jim’s eyes go wide and he flushes before glaring down into his beer.

Bones though, just drawls, “Nah, Jimmy’s been helpin’ my appalling fashion sense since we got here.”

Jim’s gaze jerks up but Bones is watching Uhura with that lazy smile he recognizes as politely dangerous--like she’s treading too close to something Bones wants left alone.

Her gaze crawls over him, hotly appreciative before she finishes her drink and stands. “Very nice work, Kirk.” she says, and he blinks, so startled by a _compliment_ from Uhura that it takes him until they’re actually out of the bar to remember that--shit.

His gaze darts back to McCoy who's watching him with those damn eyes, all patient and amused and his lips are wet and lush. He’s wearing the leather jacket Jim bought him, a faded grey v-neck and dark jeans.

He looks gorgeous, but then he always has.

“Finish your drink, kid. I’m ready to go.”

Something in Bones’ voice gets him moving and they’re outside a few minutes later, Bones sauntering at Jim’s side, loose and easy and so goddamn sexy it’s driving Jim a little crazy.

“So. Uh. You, uh. You noticed?” Jim says, as they walk down the street, headed back to the dorms.

Bones laughs, and it stretches like taffy in the sun, warm and sticky around him. “That you’ve spent the better part of a year dressing me?” He sends Jim a look, sidelong and smirking. “I noticed.”

“You never said.” Jim says, his voice a little petulant.

“Neither did you,” Bones points out and that’s fair.

They make it a few more steps, until they’re in the shadow of an alley and Bones’s hand snags out, catches on Kirk’s elbow, pulls him to a stop and around to stare questions into Bones eyes.

“Kept hoping,” Bones murmurs, stepping a little closer to Jim, his hand coming up, catching at the nape of his neck. “That eventually you’d get tired of gettin’ me dressed and maybe try takin’ my clothes off.”

Jim stares at him for the space of three heartbeats and then breathes a curse and shoves him back, into the wall of the alley and kisses the taste of whiskey from his mouth, kisses the ridiculous words from his lips, his hands wrapped up in Bones’ shirt.

 

~

 

“I can’t believe you actually used that line,” Jim says, later. He’s sprawled across the bed, sore and naked and so fucking happy even the complaint is a spoken smirk. He licks Bones knee and gets jostled, lazily, for his troubles.

“Shut up. Worked, didn’t it?” Bones grumbles, and catches Jim’s ridiculous hair. Tugs just enough to get Jim’s attention and he crawls up, sleepy exhaustion forgotten as he settles in the other man’s lap, eagerly takes the kiss Leonard is giving him, licking into his mouth as Leonard groans his approval.

When he’s finally settled against the other man, tugged back into the curve of Leonard’s body, he sees those clothes, the ones he picked and tucked into Leonard’s closet and he smiles.

They look even better strewn across Bones floor, he thinks, before he kisses the hand tucked under his chin and falls asleep.

 

 


End file.
